Bow hunting of wild game and the sport of archery have increased in popularity within the United States over the years. This increase in popularity has developed a greater interest in the use of archery targets. This also has created a mounting need for increased functionality and durability of those archery targets.
There are a number of archery targets described in prior art references or which are otherwise available in the market which employ any variety of interior materials for purposes of receiving the arrow. For example, in the Nettle's patent, U.S. Pat. No. 6,068,261, the archery target employs a solid clay core for receiving arrows, which core is surrounded by high density foam. The Worley patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,290,042, employs wheat straw or other organic material. The Mann patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,465,977, describes an archery target made out of stacks of carpet strips.
In addition to the other materials described, a single foam interior or foam layers have been used to form the arrow receiving portion of the target. As such, the use of layered plastic or foam is not unique. For example, in Meyer, U.S. Pat. No. 4,076,246, the target material consists of layered elastomeric plastic sheets encapsulating a polypropylene foam material. These plastic sheets are sufficiently rigid to stand, and are grouped together in replaceable segments of target material. The replaceable segments are wrapped in a plastic sheet material, and weather-resistant plastic sheet material covers the exterior of the target. The interior foam material designed to receive the arrow is sufficiently stiff so as to not require any compressive forces in order to have it retain its shape or position within the interior of the target.
In Pulkrabek, U.S. Pat. No. 5,865,440, the material for receiving the arrow is arranged in horizontal layers. These layers are polyethylene foam. In order to retain the foam layers within the target structure, the foam is compressed in a baling apparatus. The bottom of the target on which the foam layers rests is comprised of a base board with the top comprising a covering board. These boards, and the foam layers contained between them, are circumferentially wrapped in steel or nylon bands which are drawn tight to maintain the compressive forces necessary to retain the foam layers.
Many of the targets described in the prior art are full-scale in size, and square or rectangular in shape. The entire area of the face is flat and designed to receive arrows. Customarily, these flat-faced full scale targets provide little or no visual imagery of the game that may be pursued by bow hunters. The present invention includes such flat-faced full scale targets that are of a square or rectangular shape. It also includes the manufacture of replaceable insert sections for use in the conventional flat-faced design of archery target. Bow hunters, however, generally have a preference for three-dimensional archery targets representing game animals. An example of such a three-dimensional target is a white tailed deer. Such three-dimensional targets have a “vital” section that represents the location where the bow hunter should place the arrow when hunting the live game animals so as to achieve the most effective kill. With such three-dimensional targets, the vital section is often replaceable thereby extending the useful life of the three-dimensional figure as a target.